I'm Free, But Now What?
by HillianLink
Summary: Riku has had to deal with a living hell for almost all of his life, until one day he finds a way to get free. But now he has to try to live a normal life with his new family and simultaneously keep his dark past a secret. Pokemorph story. Rated M for language, violence, lemons. *Edited first chapter for grammar and to fix it all being one large paragraph.
1. Getting the Fuck Out

**Hello and welcome to my first ever story (so please be nice). I wan to give a quick warning that the first chapter is slightly dark, but I plan on making the other ones at least slightly more lighthearted. I don't own Pokemon or any of the other products that are mentioned in this story. Anyways, on with the story.  
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**Getting the Fuck Out.**

Bliss. That's the only word that could describe what I was currently experiencing. I was sitting in a large meadow, surrounded by flowers. Just sitting there, watching the clouds float by, completely content with everything. It's as if the whole world is just at peace with its inhabitants and they were all just following suit. I was knocked out of my slight daze as a small Pichu ran up to me and plopped itself down on my lap.

"Hey little guy", I said, scratching behind its ears, "shouldn't you be with your mother, she's probably worried about you." The small electric mouse opened its mouth to reply, but when it did an uncharacteristically deep, gruff voice came out.

"Riku, wake the fuck up and bring me my damn dinner!"

My eyes shot open and I saw the familiar cabinets and plain white walls of my master's kitchen. _Fucking figures, just another damn daydream_.

"Homora, where the fuck is my damn food!?"

I sighed and yelled, "Coming master!".

I dashed over to the oven and pulled it open and grabbed the whole chicken that is my masters dinner from it and ran to the dining room with it, careful not to drop it in fear of being punished. I sat the tray down in front of my master, an extremely fat, horrible excuse for a man, and bowed to him.

"Little shit." he growled out,"You've been here long enough to know that I shouldn't have to tell you to bring it out."

He then punched me as hard as he could in the jaw and I had to fight back a yelp of pain. I just gritted my teeth and said, "Yes master, my apologies, it won't happen again.

"It damn well better not." he growled at me,"You may now eat."

I bowed to him again and said,"Yes, thank you master.", before dashing back to the kitchen. On the way I passed Hades, my masters pet Houndoom, and he quietly growled at me before going back to sleep. I quickly slipped into the kitchen and walked over to the small jar on the counter labeled "Slave" and took two pieces of bread from it before replacing the lid. I then began slowly eating the bread, trying to make it last since its all I'll get for at least twelve hours.

My name is Riku Homora and I'm an extremely odd Lucario morph. Instead of the normal blue and yellow fur pattern my whole body is covered in black fur and my eyes were a deep blood red. I'm currently 16 with a height of 5 feet, which is extremely short for someone my age and especially a Lucario, which normally are at least 5, 8 by my age. The stunted growth comes from a severe lack of proper nutrition for ten years. When I was six the asshole I currently call master broke into my family's house and killed my parents and kidnapped me, forcing me to be his slave. So every day for ten years he's beaten and starved me and forced me to do anything he told me. Granted it isn't that much different than what I had going for me at home. My parents had always beaten me just because I looked different than I should, but at least there I got three meals a day and an actual bed to sleep in. Here all I have is 4 slice of bread and a can of beans a day and a hard mattress in an attic. I don't even get to choose my own clothes, all he allows me to wear is an ugly as hell bright yellow track suit. He always says it's a nice contrast from "my horribly ugly black coat of fur".

"Riku, I'm finished with my meal!" my master shouted to me from the dining room.

I quickly shoved the rest of my dinner in my mouth and went to the dining room to get his plate. As I picked up his plate he said, "Oh, and I need you to return here as soon as you've washed that."

I nodded and said, "Yes master." and took his plate to the kitchen. I quickly washed it and went back to him and saw that he had turned his chair to where it was no longer partially under the table, but facing me and out in the middle of the space left to walk between the table and the wall.

"Good, now get over here and get on your knees." he demanded.

I simply did as told, knowing exactly what I was about to do, seeing as he had made me do it almost every day since I turned eight. I got down on my knees and opened my mouth as he dropped his pants to his ankles, revealing his semi hard member.

I was about to wrap my lips around it, but he grabbed my head and said, "No, no, no. Tonight we are going to do something slightly different." I backed up, slightly confused as he whistled and said, "Hades, c'mere boy."

My eyes widened in surprise but I kept silent, knowing all too well what would happen if I questioned what he was doing. As Hades came over I noticed that he was sporting a bright red erection and I immediately knew what was about to happen. My master pet him on the head and said, "Good boy Hades."He then turned to me and said," Now listen up. What's gonna happen is your gonna suck him until he's done and I'm gonna watch it for my own pleasure. Got it?"

I nodded in response as Hades walked over and stood in front of me, my head under him with his erection almost touching my nose.

"You here that, freakboy," he growled in my ear," I get to have a little fun tonight too. Now start suckin."

I wrapped my lips around his canine dick and I almost threw up from the extremely salty and horrible taste. _This tastes saltier than a human. Must just be a trait of pokemon. _I mentally facepalmed at that thought and tried to wipe it from my memory. I started bobbing my head back and forth as my master began stroking himself. After a few minutes I felt his release begin to build up, so I sped up, wanting to end this hell as fast as possible. Hades suddenly let out a loud howl as he thrust deep into my throat, causing me to gag slightly, as both he and my master climaxed simultaneously, Hades's sperm being shot into my mouth and my master's being shot onto the hardwood floor of the room. I swallowed all of the seed in my mouth, feeling a disgusting heat as each sticky string slide down my throat.

He removed his member and I went to get up, but I stopped when my master said, "Now where the hell do you think you're going, kid." I looked at him and he said," Look at all this mess in here now. You need to clean it, but unfortunately you can't leave this room until it's done and there aren't any cleaning supplies in here."

He smirked as I got back down on my knees and began licking up the white liquids on the floor. When I stood up, finally done, he and Hades burst out laughing. I just stood there, silent until he finished.

When he was done he said," Alright, get your disgusting freak ass upstairs and clean up, you slut."

I nodded and went upstairs to the second floor and up a small rope ladder at the end of the hall into my attic bedroom. I grabbed another track suit off of the floor and went down to the second level and into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I sat the spare clothes on the toilet and put the plug in the sink and turned the water on. As the basin began filling I sunk to the floor and started silently crying into my hands. I sat there until the sink was about ¾ of the way full, and I got up and turned the water. I grabbed a washcloth and a bar of soap from the shower and began washing myself, with only one thing running through my head: _This is hell. My life is hell_. When I was done I pulled the plug, causing the sink to start draining, and I began drying myself off. I wrapped the towel around my waist and looked in the mirror and was horrified by my reflection. I had multiple scars from being stabbed while here, a few slightly noticeable cigar burns, and some slight visible bruising around my left eye. But what horrified me the most was that I could clearly see every single one of my ribs. I began praying to Arceus for some way to escape, and after a few minutes it finally came to me.

_I know what I have to do. I don't like it but I have to do it, and it has to be tonight._ I slowly finished drying off and put my clothes on, then I went up to my room and got under my thin blanket on my mattress and just waited. I periodically glanced out the small circular window at the other end of the attic to see what time it was. When it looked to be about one or two in the morning I got up, ready to put my plan in action. I went downstairs and silently began walking to the master bedroom. I opened the door and saw my master lying in bed asleep. _Hmph. Yeah,"master"._ _We're about to see who really has the power here_. I stepped into the room and slowly closed the door behind me. Apparently it was louder than I thought because his eyes shot open and fell on me.

"What the hell! Riku, what the fuck are you doing out of bed at this hour? Or more importantly, why the hell are you in my room?"

Instead of answering, I just coated my right hand in an Iron Claw and began walking towards him. He caught a glimpse of my hand as I walked past the window, causing the moonlight to glint off of the sharp metal, and I heard him audibly gulp.

"Riku, I don't know what the hell you think you're going to do with that but you need to leave now." He said, a slight trace of fear in his voice.

I ignored him and continued walking forward, now with a wicked grin on my face.

"Riku, listen to me now, damn it. Put that away and go back to bed." He said, the fear now prominent in his voice.

I just continued walking towards him, the same wicked grin growing even larger. When I reached his bedside I used my left hand to force his head to his pillow and placed the tip of my claw at his throat.

He whimpered in fear and pleaded," No, please, don't do it Riku. I'm sorry for what I've done, I truly am. Just let me go and you can leave here and be free, okay?"

I just glared at him with cold, emotionless eyes and put just enough pressure on his throat to draw blood.

He let out another whimper and said, "No, please. I'll do anything, I'll give you anything. Do you want money? I'll give you money just please let me go." I put a little more pressure on his throat and he said, "No, please, please. I'll do anything, I'll give you anything."

I leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "All I want is your head on a fucking plate."

I then thrust the claw into his throat and stood there as the crimson blood poured out of the wounds and onto my hand. After about thirty seconds I slowly pulled my claw out and left the room and began walking down the hall in the dark, blood dripping off of my claw and hand.

I whistled and said,"Cmere Hades, Riku's got a little present for you, you cute little pooch."

In the dark I saw the shape of Hades come up the stairs and move closer to me, and then stop a few steps away.

"Huh? What the hell are you doing up Riku?" he asked. His eyes then fell on my right hand and the trail I left behind me and he stuck his nose in the air, obviously smelling blood.

"What the hell did you do?" He asked, a hint of fear in his voice.

I just laughed and said, "Why don't you come the fuck over here and find out, bitch."

He then stepped back a little and took a running charge at me and leaped in the air to tackle me. I easily sidestepped him and knocked him to the floor on his back and I dropped onto him and laid there with my left arm on his neck and my Iron Claw pointing at the center of his throat. He tried to wriggle free but I kept him pinned, and after a few seconds he stopped squirming and just laid there.

"How the hell can you do this, you're just a scrawny little butler? We made sure to beat all the fight out of you years ago."

I chuckled and said, "Well, you see, I'm simply one hell of a butler."

I then plunged the claw into his throat and stayed there until he stopped twitching. I didn't care about my humanity anymore so I continued with a plan unknown even to me, acting as if I wasn't even the one controlling my own body. I cut Hades head off and put it on the pillow next to my former master's head and took the hellhounds body downstairs and sat it in the entrance hall. I then went and got four steak knives from the kitchen and returned to the body and hung it up, splayed out, right above the front door. I then got a pack of matches from the living room and a few canisters of gasoline from the garage and completely covered the floor of every room except for the master bedroom, the attic, and the entrance hall in gasoline. I then connected them all in the center of the entrance hall and poured a line of gas out the door and down the front steps. I discarded the canisters and lit a match and threw it on the gasoline. I just stood there, laughing, as the whole house went up in flames, along with almost everything in it. After about ten minutes I heard approaching sirens, so I went into the surrounding forest and began walking in a random direction. I had been walking for about ten minutes when the impact of what I did finally registered.

_Dear Arceus, I've killed a man._

"No, no, I didn't kill a man," I said aloud," I killed a monster that deserved to die."This second thought calmed and consoled me until another one hit me: I was lost in a forest I had never been in before and had no idea where the nearest town was.

"Oh well." I said, "Better keep walking I guess, just sitting here won't help accomplish anything." I then continued walking in the random direction, hoping to find any sort of dwelling, human, pokemorph or even pokemon.

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**And first chapter done. Hope you enjoyed. Updates will most likely be rather sporadic (so just whenever I get the time/feel like it.) As I said I shall try to make the other chapters slightly nicer. Anyways, Link out. Peace!**


	2. One Hell of a Day

**I'm back with a new update. But before we get to the story I would like to say a few things. 1) I apologize for how the first chapter looked, with it all being one huge paragraph. I had meant to go back pre-upload to fix it, but I forgot, so I'm sorry for that. 2) I want to thank all who viewed, reviewed, favorited, or followed, so thanks for the support. 3) I'm not sure if I made this clear in the first chapter but in this story humans and pokemorphs live together as equals, while pokemon are still kept as pets. And now onto the chapter**

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**One Hell of a Day.**

_That right there, that's what I'm after._ I was currently hiding in a bush on the edge of a park in the middle of a city, watching an Eevee morph and a Flareon morph, who I assumed to be his daughter, putting groceries in the trunk of their car in a store's parking lot. _If I can get at those oranges and take one they'll never notice. All I have to do is wait for them to go and put their cart up._

My stomach suddenly growled, reminding me to hurry up. It's been four months since my "departure" from the house, and I have been living on the streets, bouncing from town to town, stealing food and, whenever possible, doing odd jobs for food, money, and a place to stay for the night. Over the time I've been able to get other clothes to replace the horrid tracksuit I left in. I'm currently wearing a pair of dark gray sweatpants, a black jacket over a dark purple t-shirt and a pair of black skate shoes.

I sat there watching the two for another two or three minutes of them loading the bags in the trunk before Flareon went to the passenger side door and got in, while the Eevee went to put the cart in a rack, leaving the trunk open as he left. _Okay, now's my chance. _I quickly but quietly moved to the back of the car and reached into the bag containing the oranges and grabbed one. I quickly took my hand out, but as soon as my hand cleared the bag I felt a hand land on my shoulder, causing me to freeze in place.

"May I help you, young man?" A voice said behind me. I quickly spun around, hiding the orange in my hands behind my back, and came face to face with the Eevee. "Well, would you like to answer?" He asked, dropping his hand to his side. I just stood there, silent. "Very well then," he said, "then would you like to show me what is behind your back?" I turned my face to the ground and slowly moved my hand from behind my back, revealing the fruit. He took the orange from my hand and said, "Would you like to explain to me why you took one of my oranges?" I just shrugged as I heard the car door open then close, followed by the Flareon appearing around the car.

"Hey Dad, what's taking so long?" She asked the Eevee. She then noticed me standing there and said, "Oh. Hello. Who are you?"

"Riku." I said, finally speaking up.

The Eevee looked at me with a slightly surprised look on his face and said, "Well Riku, would you like to say anything to me for attempting to steal from me?"

I simply nodded and said, "I'm sorry, sir. If you let me go I promise that it won't happen again."

He nodded and said, "Alright, apology accepted. Now, it's obvious that you are rather hungry and my daughter and I were on our way to eat dinner anyway, so would you like to join us?"

I stood there, stunned, which prompted the Flareon to say, "Let's take that as a yes."

"Okay then, let's go." The Eevee said. He put the orange back in the bag and shut the trunk. Then, before I could react, he put his arm around my shoulder and brought me to the back left side door. He then opened the door and I got in without question, not wanting to insult him by showing that I didn't completely trust him. He shut the door as his daughter got in, followed by him getting in the driver's seat. He then started the car and pulled out of the lot and began driving down the road.

After a few minutes the Eevee said, "Anyways, I believe we should introduce ourselves. I am Maxwell Mathers and this is my daughter, Jessica."

The car was silent for a few more minutes until we reached a small diner and pulled into the parking lot. When he parked we all got out and went to the door, with me following them a few feet behind. The diner was almost empty, the only other patron being an old woman sitting at the counter, drinking coffee and eating a slice of pie. The three of us all went to a booth near the door and sat down, Maxwell and Jessica on one side and myself on the other side.

After only a few seconds a Kirlia morph wearing a stereotypical diner waitress outfit and an apron came over to us and said, "Hey Maxwell honey, so what'll it be?"

"Just three of the usuals please, Gladys." Maxwell said. The waitress nodded and left, giving Maxwell a small wink as she went.

"So, Riku, how long have you been on the streets?" Maxwell asked.

"For about ten years." I said, deciding to only answer partially truthfully. He simply nodded at my answer.

"Wow, how have you been able to survive this long?" Maxwell asked

I just shrugged in response, not sure how to answer.

"So, um, you have a very interesting fur color for a Lucario, do you know how you got that?" Jessica asked me.

I just shrugged instead of voicing an answer. The waitress then came back holding a tray with three glasses of soda on it and set them on the table in front of us.

"Thank you." Maxwell said, sliding a drink in front of each of us.

"No problem hun," the Kirlia said," I'll have your food out in a few minutes." She left and went back into the kitchen.

"So how old are you kid?" Jessica asked.

"Sixteen." I said, already anticipating the comments about my height.

"Really?" Maxwell said, "You're slightly short for a Lucario of your age aren't you?"

Once again I only shrugged. Jessica opened her mouth to say something, but stopped as the waitress came back holding a tray in each hand.

She sat them on the table, one holding a plate with a hamburger and fries on it and the other holding two of the same plates. "Here you go sweetie, fresh from the kitchen." The waitress said.

"Thanks." Maxwell said, "I'll pay on the way out."

She left again and we started eating in silence. When we were all finished eating Jessica looked at her father and asked, "So, are you going to ask him?"

I looked at them, confused, as Maxwell nodded and said, "Yes, I was just about to ask." He clasped his hands together and put them on the table in front of him and cleared his throat. "Riku, I have a question to ask you."

I nodded to tell him I was listening, so he continued.

"I have another child, a son, and both he and Jessica come from similar pasts as you, meaning that they lived on the streets, but I have adopted them. If you will agree to it, I would like to adopt you as my son. I will send you to school, give you a home to live in, provide for you, and treat you as if you were my own, but only if you want me to. Would you like that?"

I thought for a second. I was in absolute shock, I had never expected anyone to even buy me lunch, let alone spring something like this on me.

"Well, what'll it be?" Maxwell asked patiently.

"That sounds like it would be nice." I said.

A smile spread across his face and he said, "Well then it's settled. Let's head on home."

We all got up and Jessica and I went to the car and got in while Maxwell paid for the food. When he got in the car we pulled out of the parking lot and started down the road. After a few minutes of driving through the city we pulled out onto a road that leads away from the city. As we drove the scenery slowly went from a city to multiple houses to forests surrounding us on both sides. We pulled onto a paved driveway with branches thickly rising over the driveway in a thick enough layer to cut off sunlight. It opened up into a circular driveway with a large two story house at it. Maxwell parked the car in front of the door and we got out. Maxwell popped the trunk and we all went back to it.

"Would you like me to help?" I asked as they started getting bags from the trunk.

"That'd be great, thanks." Max said, handing me a few bags. He closed the trunk and we all went in the house. The entrance hall was a large room with a set of double doors to the right and left with a large staircase in the center leading up to the second floor.

"Jessica, how about you let me deal with the bags while you show Riku around the house?" Max said.

"Okay," Jessica said, sitting her bags down, "C'mon, let's go."

I sat my bags down and followed her to the doors to the left. She opened it and I saw a large room with a flat screen TV hanging on the wall and two large couches in it.

"This is our family room." Jessica said, "We don't use it much, pretty much only when we have Max's family over."

There was a single glass door leading outside and we went over to it. Jessica opened it and I saw a large pool surrounded by a large tile deck with multiple beach chairs on it.

"This is our pool." Jessica said, "We normally spend a majority of our time in the summer out here, especially Ashley."

"Ashley?" I asked, looking at her, confused.

"Our Ninetails," She explained, "She really loves the water."

I nodded and we went back into the house, closing the door behind us. We went back into the entrance hall and saw that Maxwell had already left the room.

"That is the dining room, and through it is the kitchen. It's pretty much just like any dining room and kitchen, so there's no point in going in there right now" Jessica said, pointing at the doors to the right. We then went up the stairs to the second floor. At the top was a long hallway with two doors on my right and two on my left.

"To the right at the end of the hall is Maxwell's bedroom/ office. Next to it is Kyle's room. He's currently on a vacation with his girlfriend, her brother, and his boyfriend. Then to the left is my room and what I assume will be your room is the one at the end of the hall. C'mon I'll show it to you."

We went down to the door at the left end of the hall and Jessica reached for the door knob. When she opened the door I thought my jaw would literally hit the floor. It was a large room with a king sized bed in the center up against the wall with a chest of drawers across from it with a large flat screen TV, a Xbox 360 and a stack of games sitting on it. In the corner to the left of the door there was a desk with a computer sitting on it and a rolling office chair. On either side of the TV was a single door.

"Hehe, I see you're impressed." Jessica said, breaking me out of my trance.

"Yeah, I've never really seen a room like this." I said, chuckling.

"Well you should probably get used to it."Jessica said, "Seeing as it will be your room from now on."

I nodded as we went over to the door closest to the hall and opened the door, revealing an empty walk in closet.

"Obviously this is your closet." Jessica said, "We can go and buy you some clothes soon."

She closed the door and we went to the other one and she opened it. Inside was a was a full bathroom with a tile floor and tile walls.

"And this is your bathroom. All of our rooms have one and there's one in the kitchen" Jessica said.

As she closed the door I stifled a yawn, just now realizing just how tired I am. I looked out the window and saw that the sun had already went down.

"Yeah, it's getting pretty late." Jessica said, stifling a yawn herself, "We should probably get to sleep."

I nodded and she went to the door.

"G'night." She said stopping in the doorway.

"Yeah, goodnight." I said, walking over to the bed.

Jessica closed the door as she left and I got in the bed. _This has been one hell of a day._

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**That is the second chapter. If there are any grammatical errors, then I apologize and I shall try to do better next time. I'll try to put up the next chapter in the next week or so, but it will most likely be up by the end of the month. I hope you enjoyed and accepted my apology for the visual state of chapter one. Until next time, goodbye.**


	3. I Already Have a Nickname

**Hello, and welcome back to IFBNW chapter 3. I meant to update sooner but I've been busy with things (i.e. minor depression and school), but I had the day off from school and i felt like writing, so i did and I hope everyone enjoys it. Although before we start I feel that I should mention three quick errors in the last chapter.**

**1. Riku was not supposed to tell them his birthday, just his age.  
2. They don't live miles away from the city, just on the outside of town, so everything is still in walking distance.  
3. The part about the family room not being used much was supposed to be omitted. The room still exists, but that part wasn't supposed to be there.**

**I apologize about these errors. I meant to take them out before uploading, but I guess I didn't proofread well enough. I promise to try better in the future. Anyways, on to the chapter**

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**First Day Here and I Already Have a Nickname**

I awoke in the dark in an unfamiliar place, in a warm and comfortable bed. Confused, I sat up and looked at my surroundings. Upon seeing the white painted walls and black carpet the events of yesterday came rushing back to me, bringing a slight smile to my face. Unsure of what to do I decided to shower, seeing as it's been two days since I last bathed, and even then it was just in a small creek. I went to move my legs but found that there was a light weight on them. Looking down I saw a cream colored ball of fur that I recognized to be a sleeping Ninetails. I tapped the fire fox's shoulder it stirred slightly.

I cleared my throat and said "Um, excuse me."

This caused the Ninetails to groggily lift its head and look around sleepily. Its eyes fell on me and it scramble to its feet.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." She said frantically, "When I came in last night I was extremely tired and I thought I went into Jessica's room-"She froze mid-sentence. "Wait a minute. Who are you?"

"Um, I'm Riku." I said, slightly nervously, "And I assume that you are Ashley, correct?"

"Yes." She said the confusion obvious in her voice and on her face, "How do you know my name and what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, in response to your first question, Jessica mentioned it yesterday, and to your second one, I guess I live here now." I said.

Her reaction was immediate. Her eyes widened in shock and she said, "What exactly do you mean you live here?"

"Well," I began, "yesterday while Jessica and Maxwell were out grocery shopping they found me living on the streets, so they invited me to eat dinner with them and at the end of it he asked if I wanted to come live here, so I accepted."

Ashley sighed and said, "Seeing as that is exactly how we got Jessica and Kyle, I'm not surprised."

"Could you please get off of my legs?" I asked, remembering why I was getting up in the first place, "I was going to go shower."

"Oh, sure." She said, moving off of my legs and onto the bed itself.

"Thank you." I said, standing up.

As I began walking towards the bathroom Ashley said, "Hey, can I stay in here while you shower or do you want me to leave?"

"Sure, so long as you don't enter the bathroom." I replied.

"Thanks." She said, and quickly followed it up with a loud yawn.

I entered the bathroom and shut and locked the door behind me. As I turned on the shower to let it warm up before I got in I realized that I had no other clothes to change. _Fuck it; I'll just wear these again. _I took off my clothes and sat them on the sink. When I was done I looked in the mirror. My torso was still covered in the scars and burns but very few still looked even relatively fresh, and I could barely see any of my ribs. _Figures, I ate better on the streets than I ever did at the house. _I stepped into the shower and gasped as I felt the sensation of running water on my fur. When I was finished showering I turned off the water and stepped out onto the small rug. I opened the cabinet under the sink and found it to be full of towels. I took one out and dried myself off, then threw the towel into the basket in the corner of the bathroom. I got dressed, deciding to keep my shirt off for now so that I could wear dirty clothes for as little time as possible. I stepped out into my bedroom, the steam from the shower billowing out after. I saw Ashley, curled up asleep at the end of the bed. I stepped to the window and pulled back the curtains to see that the sun had barely cleared the horizon. I sat down next to Ashley on the bed and she shifted slightly in her sleep. I began scratching her head while holding my shirt in my other hand and she buried her nose back into her fur. _These few months have been possibly the most eventful days of my fucking life so far. _I don't know how long I sat there, just scratching Ashley's head and thinking over the recent events, but I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the door begin to open. I quickly put my shirt on as Jessica stepped into the room, wearing only a robe knotted at her stomach.

"Oh hey, you're already up, that makes my job a whole lot easier." She said, "Have you showered yet?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I just got out."

Ashley stirred next to me and lifted her head, blinking tiredly.

"Oh, hey Jess." She said, stifling a yawn"

"Hey Ash, I didn't know you were back." Jessica said, yawning, "Anyways, why don't we head downstairs and grab some breakfast, Riku?"

I nodded and stood up. We left the room and walked down the hall to the stairs. Maxwell was standing at the foot of the stairs, a suitcase on the ground on either side of him.

"Hey Dad, are you going somewhere?" Jessica asked him when we got to the bottom of the stairs.

He looked up and said, "Oh, morning guys. Yeah, I got called this morning about some issues at a site, so I'm going to be away for a few days."

"Anything serious?" Jessica asked.

"No, not that I know of, just some staff changes and payment approvals." He said, "But on a different note, shouldn't you be getting ready to go and meet Levi today?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Jessica said, her ears perking up.

"Who's Levi?" I asked.

"My boyfriend." Jessica said, "I'm meeting him at the mall today."

"So Riku, do you have anything planned for today?" Maxwell asked me.

I froze, not sure of what to say, but Jessica spoke up and said, "You should come to the mall with me. It'd give you a chance to get a feel for the city and you'd be able to get some clothes."

"Um sure." I said, a little reluctantly.

"Well then you will probably need some clean clothing to wear." Maxwell said, "Although I imagine that you could just wear some of Kyle's clothes today."

"I'll go get him some." Jessica said, before turning back and going up the stairs and to the right.

"Well then I imagine you would need some money. I'll go get you some." Maxwell said.

He went up the stairs and to the right as well, leaving me just standing there awkwardly. After about thirty seconds Ashley came down the stairs, stifling a yawn.

"Hey, where's everyone else?" She asked. Seeing the suitcases she added, "And what's with the bags?"

I was about to answer when Maxwell came down the stairs holding a small black case.

"Hello Ashley, I wasn't aware that you got here last night." Maxwell said, walking over to us.

"Yeah," She said, "I sorta slipped in late last night and stumbled into Riku's room, which that proved for an interesting wake up."

"I imagine." He said, chuckling. Turning to me, he said, "Now Riku, can I trust you with the money I'm about to give you?"

"Yes, of course." I replied, assuming that to be the best answer.

"Very well." He said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wad of money, which he handed to me, "You can keep whatever you don't use on clothes."

I looked down at the money in my hand and was stunned. I had never been trusted with money before in my life. The only times I had even held any money was while I was living on the streets, but I had always almost immediately used it for food or the small amount of clothes I had.

"Th-thanks." I said, still completely surprised before pocketing the cash.

Maxwell smiled slightly at my reaction and said, "There is one more thing. This is for you as well."

He opened the black case and pulled out what I recognized from to be and IPhone 5. He handed it to me and, once again, I looked down at what was in my hands, stunned.

"Now, I assume that I can trust you with this as well, so have it as a gift." He said, "Now, do you know how to use it?"

I stood there in stunned silence for a few seconds before snapping back to reality.

"Oh. Um, yes I do." I said, "Thank you."

Another slight smile spread across his face and I heard Ashley give off a quiet snicker at my reaction, but I didn't care. With what happened yesterday and what's happened so far today, it felt like my own personal Christmas. I took the phone off standby and saw that it already had both Maxwell's and Jessica's phone number. I pocketed the phone when Jessica came down the stairs holding a bundle of clothes.

"Here," She said, handing me the clothes, "I noticed that you were wearing a lot of dark colors yesterday, so I tried to find some of his darker clothes. I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, thanks." I said, accepting the clothes.

Maxwell looked at the watch on his wrist and said, "Well, I should probably be going now before I miss my flight." He picked up his suitcases and said, "Goodbye everyone, I'll see you in five days. Be sure not to break anything while I'm gone."

"C'mon Dad," Jessica said, slightly defensively, "the only time that ever happened Kyle did it, and he isn't even here right now."

Maxwell sighed and said, "I know, but he'll still be here for two days before I'm back. Anyways, I really should be going now."

He went to the front door and opened it, revealing that it had started raining while we were talking.

"Ugh, really you want to start now?" Jessica groaned, "I hope I still have my umbrella somewhere in my room."

"If not you could always wear a jacket with a hood." Maxwell said, before leaving and closing the door behind him.

After a few seconds we heard the car start up and pull out of the driveway.

"Well," Jessica said, turning to me, "we should go get ready now. If you finish before me, just wait for me here, we can grab something to eat on the way."

I nodded and we both went upstairs, her to her room and me to mine. I closed the door behind me and sat the clothes on the bed to see what she picked out for me. I sat the clothes on the bed and saw that there was a pair of black jeans and a black shirt. I put on the clothes and left my room, throwing my jacket on as I went out of the door. Seeing that Jessica was still getting ready, I went to the foot of the stairs to wait. After a few minutes the door to the kitchen opened and Ashley came out, muttering to herself.

"I really fucking hate it when they don't leave the door open; it's too damn difficult to open it." Seeing me, she came over and said, "Is she really still getting ready?"

I sighed and said, "Yeah, I guess. Does it normally take her this long?"

"Not normally," Ashley replied, "but I guess she really wants to look nice for Levi. He's been at some football camp all summer, so they haven't been able to see each other at all."

I just shrugged and said, "Well, I guess that's sorta understandable."

Just then I heard a door open and Jessica came down the stairs.

"So, how do I look?" She asked, "and be honest."

I looked her over and had to fight just to keep my jaw from dropping. She was wearing a red shirt and black skinny jeans that hugged her hourglass figure perfectly, and her head was topped with a black beanie with her ears sticking out from under it. To put it in simpler terms, she looked absolutely beautiful. Ashley seemed to notice my reaction and she giggled quietly.

'Oh!" I said, breaking out of my slight trance, "Nice. You look nice."

Ashley giggled again and I glared at her, causing her to freeze.

"Thanks." Jessica said, seemingly oblivious to my reaction "Unfortunately I couldn't find my umbrella, so it looks like we'll have to settle for hoods."

"I'm alright with that." I said as we went towards the door.

"Okay then. See-yah Ashley." She said as we left.

"Bye guys, have fun." Ashley's voice responded as the door closed behind us.

While we were getting ready the rain seemed to have started coming down harder and was now almost pouring down.

"Damn." Jessica muttered under her breath, "Looks like it's a good thing jackets have hoods."

We put our hoods up and walked down the driveway and onto the road, with me walking slowly, a few feet behind Jessica. Every few minutes Jessica would look back at me, causing me to feel extremely awkward.

"Hey Riku, y'know you don't have to walk so far behind me, right?" She said after looking at me multiple times, "You can come up here and walk next to me."

I put my hands in my jacket pockets and sped up so that I was walking at the same pace as her.

"So, how did you enjoy sleeping in a real bed after ten years?" Jessica asked me as we trudged on trudged on through the rain.

"It was nice." I replied, "Much more comfortable than the ground."

She laughed and said, "Yeah, I imagine. So, I noticed earlier that you seemed slightly reluctant to come with me. Any specific reason as to why?"

I thought for a second on how to phrase my response then said, "Well, in the past I've never exactly been accepted with open arms due to my abnormal fur color, so I didn't really know if I should go out somewhere."

Ahh," She said, "That. I hate to say it but pretty much everyone our age is like that as well, although the adults are fairly alright with abnormalities. So, now that I've asked you some questions, I'm sure you have some for me about the town and such, so ask away."

I thought about it and realized that she was right; I did have questions, so I asked the first one that came to my mind.

"Has Maxwell ever done anything like this before," I asked, "or were you and Kyle the first kids he ever adopted?"

"Well," Jessica said, "he's only ever had one kid, but he was his actual blood. He occasionally visits, but when he does he normally stays for a few days and sleeps in the guest room."

"The house has a guest room?" I asked, amazed that the house was even bigger than I thought.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you yesterday?" Jessica said, "It's through the kitchen. Eric's pretty much the only one that's ever used it."

"Ok then. So how long have you and Kyle been living there?" I asked.

"Well, Kyle and I are legitimate siblings, and we moved in about five years ago." She said, "Ashley lived there before I did, but when I actually moved in she was only a Vulpix, and she evolved about two years ago"

"Okay," I said, "I have one more question."

"Okay, shoot." Jessica said.

"Why was Maxwell so prepared?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Jessica said.

"Y'know, he seemed extremely prepared for someone else to move in." I explained, "Like, he already had a room and everything stocked up and made and he even already had a phone for me. Why?"

"Well, he's normally pretty prepared for things anyway," She said, "and he's actually been looking to adopt another kid for about two years now. He thought about going to an actual orphanage or something at some point, but he decided that he'd prefer to adopt someone who legitimately doesn't have a home, seeing as they need it more."

"Oh." I said.

We kept walking, with me just following Jessica blindly, not knowing the way around. We only saw one other person actually walking on the sidewalk and not driving on the road, and he just kept walking past us, head down under his hood. _Wow, people here really must not like the rain._ By the time we actually got to the mall we were both thoroughly soaked to the skin and the rain was pounding down harder than before. We quickly entered, dropped our hoods, and shook slightly to get as much water as possible off of us.

"C"mon, he said he'll be waiting at the food court."Jessica said.

I nodded and we began walking. When we got to the food court Jessica looked around for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.

"Damn, looks like he isn't here yet." Jessica said, "Do you want to grab something to eat?"

"I'm fine," I said, "You go ahead."

"You sure?" She asked.

I nodded and she shrugged then walked away. She came back a few minutes later holding a sausage biscuit and two coffee cups.

She handed a one of the cups to me and said, "Here, I assume you woke up really early today so I figured I'd get you something to help wake up."

"Thanks." I said, accepting the coffee.

"No problem." She said. "Have you ever had coffee, by the way?"

"Yeah, I was actually able to get enough spare money when I was on the streets to get some every now and then." I replied, sipping the drink and tasting the familiar taste of a cinnamon latte.

"Well I guess we should just wait here." Jessica said, taking a bite from her biscuit.

We moved over out of the way a bit and stood there, waiting, with Jessica checking the time on her phone every minute or so.

"Damn it," Jessica sighed after checking the time for at least the thirtieth time, "where the hell is he?"

"Where is who?"A voice said behind us

We spun around to see a guy with short, spiky blonde hair wearing a red Nike t-shirt and blue jeans and a black Absol-morph wearing black jeans and a Black Veil Brides shirt standing behind us.

"Levi." Jessica said, before wrapping her arms around the guy and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Hey Jess." Levi said, wrapping his arms around Jessica. When they broke apart he looked at me and said, "So what's with the kid?"

_And there's the fucking height bull shit. Arceus, I hope that I actually get taller soon._

Jessica giggled lightly and said, "He's not a kid, he's sixteen. And his names Riku, he just moved in and we thought that it would be a good idea for him to get some clothes of his own, so he came with me."

He turned to me and said, "Hey." I nodded to him and he turned back to Jessica and said, "Yeah, I got roped into bringing Adam along with me today as well."

"You didn't fucking get roped into taking me anywhere," the Absol, who I assume to be Adam, growled, "I planned on coming here anyway and decided to at least say hi to Jessica since I haven't seen any of them since fucking May."

Levi scoffed and said, "What the hell ever, just piss off."

"Jackass." I heard Adam say under his breath. He turned to me and stuck out his hand and said, "Hey, I'm Adam, nice to meet you."

I shook his hand and nodded at him, but stayed silent.

"Alright, Levi let's go." Jessica said to Levi, taking his hand.

I went to follow them but stopped when Adam put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Hey dude, how about you ditch them and come with me? It'd save you from having to follow them around all day."

I just shrugged, not really wanting to be near Levi too much. Something about him just struck me as a little off.

"I'll take that as a yes." Adam said. Yelling after Jessica and Levi he said, "Hey, Riku and I are gonna go wander around, okay?"

"Alright," Jessica said back, "Riku, I'll text you when we get ready to leave."

We started walking, Adam a few feet ahead of me as I fell back and started walking slower. After a few minutes Adam looked back at me and, seeing me multiple feet behind him, he fell back and started walking next to me.

"Hey man, you don't talk much, do you?" Adam said to me. I just shrugged and he said, "C'mon, I don't bite, you're allowed to speak."

"I hadn't assumed that you bite, to be quite honest." I said, chuckling slightly.

"There you go, now you're being social." He said, "So what, you're here to go and get some clothes, right?"

"Um, yeah." I said.

"Fuck it," Adam said, "I don't have anything better to do, I had just planned on walking around randomly, so let's go do that."

He grabbed my shoulder and steered me into the nearest store.

* * *

Adam and I sat down at a table in the food court, both of us weighed down with shopping bags and my pocket a fair amount of money lighter.

"Well, I guess this is enough shit," Adam said, sighing, "or at least I fucking hope it is."

I chuckled and said, "Honestly dude, I'm pretty sure this may be too much stuff."

"Yeah I guess," Adam said, "So, I was thinking, we haven't really talked much while we were shopping. So how about we actually have a conversation?"

"Alright," I said, "What should we talk about?"

"Well," Adam said, "how about we start with you telling me how you met Maxwell and Jessica."

"Alright," I said, "well, I was trying to steal an orange from Maxwell yesterday when he saw me and confronted me. He took me with them when they went to eat lunch, and when we were done Maxwell asked me if I wanted to move in."

"Interesting," Adam said, "that's actually slightly similar to how I got into my family."

"You're adopted?" I asked, slightly surprised.

"Yep," Adam said, "You didn't really think that I could be related to as big of a douche bag as Levi, did you? It was about six or seven years ago and I was living on the streets. I tried to steal a little bit of money from a guy, but he caught me. Instead of taking me to the cops like I thought he would, he just brought me to an orphanage, and a few months later Levi came in with his parents. I'm not quite sure why they decided to adopt me or why they even wanted to adopt a kid, but his dad chose me. His mother took a little bit of convincing though. She thought I was odd because of my fur color. And since then I've lived with them, but I never really got along with Levi or his mother, seeing as they both still think that I'm weird."

I chuckled and said, "Yeah, I've faced my fair share of discrimination as well."

"Yeah," Adam said, "well thankfully most adults are pretty alright with it, it's just other kids you've gotta worry about."

As if to emphasize his point at that moment a group consisting of a Houndoom-morph, a Lopunny-morph, and a Garchomp-morph came up to us.

"Oh, what's this?" The Houndoom said, "Did wittle weirdo Adam get a new freak to be friends with? How cute."

"What the hell do you want Archer?" Adam said, annoyed.

I could feel my own anger boiling up and I clenched my hands into fist on my lap to avoid knocking the fuck out of them.

"Aw, what's the matter Adam, not gonna introduce us to Mr. Emo?" The Lopunny said with a sneer on her face.

"Just piss off!" Adam said, almost yelling it.

"Tsk, tsk. Someone's testy today." Archer said, "Must be his time of the month. Alright, we'll go away before we make you go and cry home to your mommy." He started walking away before freezing and saying over his shoulder, "Oh yeah, I forgot, the only mother you have can't stand to look at you."

He continued walking away, the rest of his gang at his heels, all of them roaring with laughter.

"Arceus, they piss me the fuck off." Adam said, grinding his teeth together.

"Who are those assholes?" I asked, opening my fists and seeing that my nails had dug into the palms of my hands some a small amount of blood was beginning to surface.

"The Houndoom is Archer, the gang's leader; the Lopunny is Trinity, Archer's girlfriend; and the Garchomp is Andrew, Trinity's brother" Adam said. "All of them have rich parents and love to pick on anyone who is different, and normally their favorite targets are Kyle and I. They occasionally pick on Jessica, but they don't think that she's as fun, since she normally ignores them and doesn't get mad, but that backfires on Kyle because they insult her to him and he is one protective fucking brother."

"What's their problem with you guys?" I asked.

"For Kyle it's just the fact that he's adopted," Adam replied, "but they have a fucking field day with me. They call me weirdo because of my fur, emo because I wear a lot of black, gay because I've never had a girlfriend, and then there's always the fact that I'm adopted as well." He sighed before closing his eyes, slumping back in his chair and saying, "Arceus, I fucking hate them."

"Just try and forget about them," a female voice said behind me, "they'll always just be assholes."

Adam opened his eyes and said, "Oh, hey Ashtynn."

I turned slightly in my chair and saw a Blaziken-morph standing behind me. She walked around me and took the seat to my right between Adam and me.

"You really should just ignore them, y'know." Ashtynn said.

"Yeah, I know," Adam said, "but they just keep getting under my fucking skin. I mean, I just got back from military camp and they're already on me again. I never get a fucking break."

"You were at military camp?" I asked.

Adam sighed and said, "Yeah, my mom said I had a bad attitude and was a dick to everyone, so she sent me there to try to 'cure me of my bad behavior, but I'm still almost positive she was hoping it would break me of liking what I like somehow."

"What do you mean?" I said.

"Almost all of my family hates how I dress and the kind of music I listen to, so I'm pretty sure that my mother was wanting that to disappear, but all that that place did to me was make me hate over patriotic rednecks even more than I already did." He replied, "Everyone there was a fucking meathead who thought that if you say one insult about our country you should be burned to death immediately, and of course they all had the same attitude towards me that those three fucktards do."

"Calm down," Ashtynn said, putting a hand on Adam shoulder, "you know that they're just attention deprived conformist assholes." She took her hand off his shoulder and turned to me and said, "I didn't get your name by the way."

"Riku." I said, extending my hand to her.

She shook it and said, "I'm Ashtynn, nice to meet you. So did you just move here?"

"Yeah." I said simply.

"He just moved in with Maxwell yesterday." Adam added.

"Oh," Ashtynn said awkwardly, "so are your parents, y'know?"

"Dead?" I asked. She nodded and I said, "Yes, they have been for multiple years now."

"I'm sorry." Ashtynn said.

"Eh, don't worry about it. I've sorta grown to live with it." I said, shrugging.

"So, you guys wanna go walk around or something?" Adam asked.

'Sorry, I can't." Ashtynn said, "My break ends soon."

Adam shrugged and said, "Alright then, it looks like it's just you and me Riku."

We were about to get up when I felt my pocket vibrate. I pulled my phone out and saw that Jessica sent me a text. I looked at it and saw that she was ready to leave.

"That was Jessica." I said, "She's getting ready to leave."

"Alright then, I guess we're leaving now." Adam said, "See-yah Ashtynn."

"Alright then." Ashtynn said, "Bye guys. It was nice meeting you Riku."

"You too." I replied as she began walking away.

Adam and I grabbed the bags again and started walking to the front entrance of the mall. When we got there we saw Jessica standing there with Levi next to her.

"Ready to go Riku?" She asked. I nodded and she said, "Good. So do you guys wanna come over, Maxwell's out of town for a few days so we'd have the house to ourselves?"

"Sure." Levi said.

"I'm up for it." Adam said.

"Alright then, let's go." Jessica said.

Thankfully the rain had cleared up while we were in the mall, so we had a fairly dry walk home with Jessica and Levi walking a few feet ahead of us, deep in a conversation I wasn't paying attention to while Adam and I were just walking in silence, too tired from carrying multiple heavy bags all day to speak. When we finally got home and through the door Adam and I dropped the bags, letting out large sighs.

"C'mon guys, those bags can't be that heavy." Jessica said as soon as we did this.

"You try carrying them around all day." Adam panted out.

"Okay, whatever." Jessica said, "I'm getting a little hungry, you guys want me to order a pizza for dinner?"

I just shrugged while Adam and Levi both said, "Sure."

"Alright then." Jessica said. "Riku, you two can go on upstairs, I'll call you down when it gets here."

"Alright." I said before picking some of the bags up again.

"Here, I'll help you put everything up." Adam said, grabbing the rest of the bags and following me as I went up the stairs.

We went into my room and I closed the door behind us. Looking at my bed I saw a familiar cream colored ball of fur. I went over to it and poked it. Ashley raised her head up, blinking sleepily.

"Ashley, have you been sleeping in here all day?" I asked.

"Yeah sorry," She said groggily, "Your beds really comfortable and I didn't sleep much last night."

I shrugged and said, "I don't really care. I mean, you did live here first."

"Thanks," Ashley said, standing up and stretching. Noticing Adam still standing by the door she said, "Oh, hey Adam, I didn't know you were back already."

Adam chuckled and said, "Yeah, I got back last night, and I met up Riku and Jess at the mall."

"I'm surprised that that camp could stand having you around all summer, seeing as how it seemed like you wouldn't fit in there so well."Ashley said.

"Yeah, sending me there was not the best idea for the staff there." Adam said, "I can't even count how many times I had to do push ups as punishment for not obeying there stupid rules."

Ashley chuckled and said, "I imagine. Anyways I'll get out of your guy's way; I'm starting to feel too lazy today anyway."

She went to the door and opened it with one of her tails before leaving and closing the door behind her.

I sighed and said, "Well I guess we should start putting everything up now."

We began putting up the clothes I bought in silence until I heard Adam say, "What's with this?"

I turned around from putting a pair of jeans on a hanger and in the closet to see Adam holding a pair of black combat boots and a black bandanna.

"What about them?" I asked.

"It just seems a little weird to get. When did you even get them?" He asked.

"When you went to the bathroom." I replied, "And it's not that weird. It's just a style I used to have years ago, so I decided to see if I could still pull it off."

"Whatever man," Adam said, shrugging "Seems slightly odd to me."

"Says the one who only wears black." I said under my breath.

"Hey man," he retorted, "I don't see you wearing any other color."

I was about to reply when I heard Jessica yell up, "Guys, foods here!"

"C'mon," I said, "I'm fucking starving, I haven't eaten today."

Adam nodded and sat down the clothes, then we left then room.

* * *

**As I said I'm sorry about the errors and I will try to be better about proofreading in the future, I just hope that the long chapter may help make that up (seriously, this chapter almost doubles the amount of words in this story). And this will most likely be about how frequent the updates will be, if not less frequent, it all depends on what happens in my life. Till next time, I hope you enjoyed.**


	4. I REALLY Fucking Hate Football

**So, here is another chapter. Recently, I had actually been feeling slightly like a dick because I thought that I hadn't updated this story for more than a month, which I never really want to leave you guys hanging like that, since you guys are so fucking awesome with your all of support, so I really started working my ass off this weekend. And then I realized that I had updated this story on the sixth. Yeah, I'm an idiot. But that actually brings me to another point, which is that I am going to try to start writing more. I had originally wanted to put up about a chapter a month, but then I realized that, for a story that I wanted to get at least thirty chapters in, it would take so damn long to make any progress, so I recently decided to start writing some pretty much everyday, which this choice was extremely strengthened by the fact that I am going to try to start my third story this week. So, yeah, I really need to write more, although when summer comes and I'm off of school I'll probably write a lot more. Anyway, on with the chapter.**

* * *

**Another Reason for Me to Fucking Hate Football**

I woke up and saw Ashley on my bed next to me, yawning silently. Since I moved in Ashley has been sleeping in here with me on my bed, and I didn't really have any issue with it, so I didn't stop her.

"Morning." I said, reaching over and petting her head.

"Morning." She said "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." I said, getting off of the bed, "You?"

"It was alright." She said, getting up and stretching, "Although I wish that we had some actual food to wake up to instead of a barely edible greasy excuse for food."

I laughed and said, "Yeah, eating nothing but fast food the past few days has absolutely sucked."

The past three days since Maxwell left we've only been eating fast food and frozen pizza, because apparently the only people that live here that know how to cook are Maxwell and Kyle, and Adam and Levi, who have been staying here as well recently, only leaving to go home and change shower and change clothes, can't cook either.

"Yeah, you're telling me." She said, "And all this is so fucking bad for me as well."

"Oh yeah, Pokemon can't digest fast food and junk food as well, can they?" I said, putting on my boots and tying my bandanna around my neck.

"No," Ashley said, jumping off of my bed, "and it's fucking horrible on me. I always feel like shit for a few hours after eating it."

"Tell you what," I said, "how about I make us all some real food for breakfast?"

Ashley's ears perked up and she said, "Wait, you know how to cook?"

"Um, yeah." I said, laughing sheepishly.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Ashley asked, "It would have been so much better than the shit we've been eating."

I shrugged and said, "I don't know, it just didn't occur to me, I guess." I opened the bedroom door and said, "C'mon, let's go. The others won't be up for a while anyway."

"Yeah, I don't know how they can sleep until almost eleven." Ashley said as we left, with me closing the door behind us.

Recently my sleep schedule has went from waking up at about five in the morning to waking up at six, which was absolutely an improvement, meanwhile the others all slept in late unless woken up, except for Ashley, who woke up at about the same time as me. When we got to the bottom of the stairs I looked into the living room and saw Adam still asleep on the couch. While they've been staying here Adam's been sleeping on the couch, while Levi has been sleeping with Jessica in her room, which seemed to make Ashley and Adam fairly uneasy. We went into the dining room, which I had only been in a few times since we almost always ate in the living room. The dining room was a large room with a long wooden dining table with six seats on each side, with a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The kitchen was fairly normal, which made for a nice contrast from the fairly grand dining room that you had to go through to get there. I had only been in it once, and that was to get a drink, so I wasn't too acquainted with the placement of everything yet. Three doors lead off of the kitchen, one being the guest room, another one being the bathroom, and the last one being the laundry room. We entered the kitchen and I went to the fridge and opened it.

"What do you want to eat?" I asked Ashley as she leapt up onto the counter.

"I'd love some pancakes if we have any mix." She said, her voice slightly muffled as she opened an overhead cabinet with her mouth.

I closed the fridge and went over to the pantry and started looking around.

"Doesn't look like there's any mix." I said, closing the pantry and turning to Ashley to see her get out a can of coffee and a coffee filter.

"Damn it." She said, putting what she was holding down on the counter, "That sucks."

"Hold on." I said, going back to the fridge, "If we've got the ingredients I could make some from scratch."

"Awesome." Ashley said as I started getting the ingredients out and putting them on the counter.

I began cooking, with Ashley working on the coffee. Apparently in the time she's spent living here she has learned to do a lot of different things, including efficiently and cleanly make coffee by using her mouth as a hand, which I have seen three times now and am still confused as to how the hell she does it. When she was done she leapt off of the counter and came over to me.

"Do you care what I put in them?" I asked her.

"No not really," She responded, "but if you put sweet things in them, could you please make some without it for me? I think that I've already eaten enough unhealthy food for a few weeks in the past three days."

I laughed and said, "Of course. Can you find me some food to put in them though, I hadn't thought about it until now."

"Sure." Ashley said, going over to the pantry.

She came back over to me a few minutes later holding a bag of chocolate chips.

I took them from her and said, "Thanks." As I began adding the chocolate to the food I asked, "So isn't Kyle supposed to get here sometime today?"

"Yep," Ashley replied, "so you'll finally get to meet him. Although he'll probably be home much later-"

She was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and a voice yelling, "Hey, anyone awake yet?"

"Or he'll get home right now." Ashley sighed before responding with, "Yeah, we're in the kitchen!"

Within a few seconds a Zoroark-morph wearing black jeans, a white t-shirt, and black tennis shoes came in the kitchen.

"Hey Ashley." He yawned, giving her a small wave. He noticed me and said, "Oh, hey. You must be Riku, right?"

I nodded and said, "Yep. And I assume that you are Kyle, correct?"

"Yeah." He said, sticking his hand out. I shook it and he said, "So what are you guys doing up this early?"

"You know that I always get up early," Ashley said, "and Riku apparently does as well. And besides, I could ask you the same question, seeing as everyone knows that you're rarely up before noon if you can help it."

"Yeah," he said, chuckling, "but Val's parents wanted to get a move on early today, so we all woke up before the sun was even fucking out yet and left."

"Wow," Ashley said, feigning shock, "you even got up before us."

"Haha," Kyle said sarcastically, "So what are you two even doing?"

I was about to reply when the coffee maker dinged, signaling that it was done.

"I'll get our coffee," Ashley said, leaping back onto the counter, "you can keep cooking. Do you want some Kyle?"

"Sure," He said, with another yawn, "That'd be nice, thanks."

"To answer your question," I said, "I'm making breakfast for everyone."

Kyle let out a sigh and said, "Finally, someone else can cook in this house. It's so fucking annoying sometimes being one of the only ones."

"Oh, shut up." Ashley said, nosing Kyle's coffee over to him on the counter, "Not like you ever cook, anyway."

"Hey, I cook whenever Maxwell's out of town," Kyle said defensively, "and that's normally a fair fucking amount."

"Well, neither of you are cooking right now, so you two can be useful in a different way." I said, "Ashley, can you go get everyone else up and tell them that breakfast is done?"

"Sure." She said, followed by her running out of the room.

"Now Kyle, can you get everyone else coffee while I finishing plating the food up and bring it in there?" I said.

"Sure." He said, opening the same overhead cabinet that Ashley did earlier, "Who all's here besides us?"

"Adam and Levi." I responded, grabbing two of the plates of pancakes and heading towards the door.

"Ugh, Levi's here?" Kyle groaned. I nodded at him and he said, "Arceus, I fucking hate that guy. Something about him just screams "douche bag" to me."

"Oddly enough," I said, "I got the same feeling. Then again, that may just be because he made a joke about my height."

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked, "You can't be shorter than, like, 5, 8 and that isn't that short."

"Yeah." I said, "Oddly enough, when I first got here I was only 5, 2 and I've somehow grown a lot in these four days."

"Huh, that is weird." Kyle said.

I just shrugged at him and entered the dining room and saw Adam walking in, arms stretched above his head and his mouth gaping in a yawn. As soon as I entered he stopped yawning and I could see his nose twitch slightly as he smelled the food.

"Damn dude," he said, "what smells so good?"

"I made pancakes." I said, showing him the plates in my hands before sitting them on the table.

"Wait, you can cook?" He asked. I nodded at him and he said, "Fucking wish you had said something earlier man, I hate fast food. So what's with the bags in the foyer?"

"Kyle's back," I said, "and he is currently getting everyone coffee."

Suddenly a loud yell of, "Son of a bitch that's hot!" came from the kitchen, so Adam and I rushed in there. Kyle was standing a few feet away from the coffee maker, holding his hand, with a small puddle of coffee in the floor in front of him with pieces of ceramic laying in it.

"Correction," I said, sighing, "He is in here burning himself on coffee."

"Fuck that's hot." Kyle said, shaking his hand.

"Well what did you expect," Adam said, "its fresh fucking coffee."

"Shut up, asshole," Kyle said, flipping him off, "or do I need to call your drill sergeant?"

"Hey man, don't even joke about that," Adam retorted, "while you were off having a relaxing vacation I was busy in that hell of a camp having to deal with fucking rednecks."

"Seriously guys, what are you, five?" I said, sighing, "Stop bickering. Listen, I'll clean up the mug, so Kyle, you finish bringing the food in there, and Adam, you finish getting the coffee."

"Alright." They both said.

Adam went over to the counter and said, "You guys want me to get you guys some?"

"I'll get my own." I said, going over to the laundry room door and grabbing the broom and dustpan from inside.

"I've already got mine." Kyle replied as he took a drink of his coffee before sitting it back down and bringing two more plates into the dining room.

I cleaned the shattered mug up as Adam and Kyle did as I told them. When we were all done, Adam and Kyle grabbed their coffee along with the others and left the room, while I got my own.

As I was getting my coffee Ashley came in and said, "Hey, can you get me some, Adam forgot."

"Alright." I said, getting another cup down, "You can go and wait at the table and I'll bring it to you."

"Thanks." Ashley said, exiting the room.

I got her coffee and grabbed mine as well, before going into the dining room. Seeing that everyone except for Jessica and Levi was already sitting at the table I gave Ashley her coffee and sat down in my usual spot. As I sat down, Jessica and Levi came in, both yawning widely.

"Hey, you're back Kyle." Jessica said, waving. "So who picked up the food?" She asked as she and Levi sat down across from me.

"No one." Adam said, "Riku here apparently knows how to cook and never told anyone."

"You can?" Jessica asked. I nodded and she said, "I wish you had said that earlier."

"Alright." I said sighing, "You're the third person to say that. I get it; next time I can do something that isn't really uncommon and has yet to come up in any conversation ever, I'll be sure to tell you."

When we were done all eating, Adam said, "Wow, I never realized just how much I missed real food."

Levi suddenly got up, causing Jessica to say, "What, do you have somewhere to be this early?"

"Yeah," he replied, "remember, I've got football practice today."

"Oh, right," Jessica said, "I forgot. Is it alright if I come and watch?"

"Sure," he said, "but I need to get going now or I'll be late."

"Okay, I'll just catch up after I get showered, then." Jessica said, rising from her chair. She went over to Levi and kissed him on the cheek, having to stand on her toes since he is about six foot while she's about 5, 8, and said, "Love you."

He gave her a quick hug and said, "You too," before leaving the room, followed by the sound of the front door opening and closing, signaling that he left the house.

"That reminds me," Kyle said, "Riku; I'm supposed to take you to the school to get registered."

"If you guys want to wait, I'll come with you." Jessica said.

"Sure," Kyle said, pulling out his phone and checking the screen, "it isn't even seven yet, so it's not even open yet."

Jessica nodded and left the room, and we heard her climbing the stairs quickly.

"Riku, don't you need to shower as well?" Ashley asked me.

"No," I said, rising and starting to get the dirty dishes off of the table, "I've started showering at night, before you get in my room."

Ashley nodded to me and leapt off of her chair and left the room.

"Hey, man," Kyle said, grabbing a few of the dishes off of the table, "do you want me to take care of these?"

"Sure, thanks." I said, handing him the plates I was holding. "Adam and I'll wait in the foyer."

Adam and I went into the foyer and saw two suitcases sitting in the center of it.

"He only took two suitcases with him and he was gone for almost all of the summer?" I asked Adam.

"Yeah, Kyle's always packed fairly lightly," Adam said, "that and I imagine that they used the hotels laundry room while they were there."

"Yeah, I guess." I said.

We stood there in silence for a few minutes until Kyle came out of the dining room and came over to us.

"Arceus, I hope that Jessica doesn't take a while to get ready." He said, "I really want to get this over with."

I chuckled lightly and said, "Hell man, I don't care how long she takes as long as it isn't as long as she took a few days ago. I was waiting for at least an hour."

"Yeah, well she doesn't normally take more than thirty or forty minutes," Kyle said, "so she should be done in a little bit. While we wait, why don't you give me your phone so I can put my number in it?"

"Alright." I said, taking my phone from my pocket and handing it to him.

"Oh yeah," Adam said, "give me the phone when you're done, I haven't done that either."

Kyle looked at him questioningly and said, "You've been hanging out with him for three days and he still doesn't have your number? You stole my phone from me and put it in within the first hour of us knowing each other."

Adam laughed sheepishly and said, "Yeah well, we were younger then, and I've matured more since then."

"Dude, it was two years ago." Kyle said, "Unless that military camp actually did do something to you, in which case we need to fix whatever they did, then you have not matured that much since then."

"Okay then, I sorta forgot." Adam said.

"Well, while you guys do that, I'm going to go upstairs and grab something." I said.

I dashed upstairs and went to my room. I opened my closet and grabbed my jacket off of its hanger and closed the door. I began putting the jacket on as I left my room, closing the door behind me.

When I got downstairs Adam gave me my phone back and said, "Seriously dude? A jacket? It feels good outside."

I shrugged and said, "I don't know, I just like wearing my jacket."

I checked the contacts on my phone and saw two new numbers in it. I pocketed my phone and we continued waiting in silence. After about twenty more minutes Jessica finally came down the stairs.

"So, everyone ready?" Kyle asked. We all nodded and he said, "Okay then, let's go."

We left the house and began walking along the road. I looked up at the sky and saw that it was a blanket of light gray clouds, as far as I could see.

"Damn," I said, "that sky does not look very happy."

Kyle looked up and said, "Yeah, but I checked earlier and there's only, like, a ten percent chance of rain or something, so we should be good."

It took us only about thirty minutes to reach the school. It was a large, two-story building made of red bricks with bleachers almost the size of the school a few feet to the right side of it, and a forest to the left of it.

"I think his practice is about to start, so I'll go ahead and head over there." Jessica said, walking towards the bleachers, "See-yah guys."

"Alright," Kyle said. He turned to me and said, "Adam and I'll be walking around the school, so when you're done come get us."

"Um, alright." I said, "So, where exactly do I go?"

"Just go into the school and follow the signs to the office. When you get there just tell them what your name is and what you're there for." Kyle said.

"Alright." I said.

I went to the front door and opened it. I entered into a hallway lined with lockers. The floor was made of white ceramic tiles and the ceiling was made of gray tiles. I saw a small sign on the wall that was directing to the front office. I followed the signs until I found the office. I entered it and saw three doors on the wall in front of me, and a middle aged woman with blonde hair sitting behind a desk to my left, typing on a computer.

She looked up when I entered and said, "Oh. Hello, how may I help you?"

"Hello," I said, walking over to the desk and extending my hand out, "I'm Riku Mathers, I'm here to register."

"Oh right." The woman said, rising from the desk and shaking my hand, "Maxwell has already called ahead and explained the situation. I'm the receptionist here, Mrs. Fealix, nice to meet you. This is mostly just to fill in a few things that Maxwell wasn't able to tell us, so we hope you can."

"Alright then." I said.

She pointed to the door in the center and said, "Just go through that door. Your guidance counselor is just in there, she's the one you'll want to talk to."

I went over to the door indicated and knocked.

I was answered by a female voice saying, "Come in."

I stepped in and saw an Espeon-morph sitting behind a chair.

"Hello, how can I help you?" She asked.

"Hello, I'm Riku Mathers. I was told that I needed to come down here and register." I said, hovering by the door.

"Yes, we have been expecting you." She said, "My name is Mrs. Skythe and I'll be you're counselor." She motioned to one of the two armchairs across from her desk and said, "Please, sit down." I sat and opened a drawer on the back of her desk and pulled out a file, saying, "There isn't really much to get down still, really. It's mostly just some side things and a small amount of medical info."

"Alright." I said.

"Okay," she said, opening the file and pulling a pen out of a small cup on her desk, "Maxwell has already informed us that, unlike Kyle and Jessica, you'll be using his last name to register." I nodded and she said, "First off, we need to know of any allergies that you may, whether it is food related or not."

"Don't worry, I don't have any allergies." I said.

"Very well." She said, marking something down in the file, "Do you have any existing medical conditions that we need to know about?"

"No, not that I can think of." I said.

"Alright." She said, marking in the file again, "And lastly, we understand that you do not have any education past elementary school, correct?"

"Um, yes." I said nervously.

"Well, in this case we have made an exception to the normal education system due to your situation, so you will be a freshman here along with Kyle and Jessica," She said, "but we will move you back a few grades if your scores show the need for it. Understand?"

"Yes." I said, nodding.

"Very well." She said, nodding, "That will be all. The first day of school will be a week from now. You may go."

I nodded and left, shutting the door behind me. As I passed Mrs. Fealix she gave me a nod of acknowledgment and I left. When I left the school I saw Adam and Kyle on the front walkway, in a stare down with Archer, Trinity, and Andrew, and it looked dangerously close to becoming a full fight, with Archer and Kyle only from each other's face and their hands balled up into fists. I went over to them and stood next to Adam and Kyle.

"Oh look," Andrew yelled, "If it isn't Mr. Emo, Adam's little sidekick. What's the matter, did you call for some backup or something."

"Shut the hell up, you stupid fucking fish!" Adam retorted.

_These two are going to get us in trouble before the school year even fucking starts. That's great._

"Fuck you, you little goth wannabe bitch!" Trinity yelled, getting in Adam's face.

Deciding to end the confrontation before it got even further out of hand, I put my hand on Kyle's shoulder and said, "Leave it dude, just leave it."

He shrugged my hand off of his shoulder and said, "Fuck no; you didn't hear what these assholes said."

"It doesn't matter what they said," I said calmly, "whatever it was, it isn't worth a fight. And besides, no one really wants to see blood spilled right now anyway. So just leave it, they aren't worth it."

"Fuck no man." Kyle said, before throwing a punch aimed directly at Archer's face.

Archer held up his arms, prepping himself for the attack, but before the punch could make contact I reached out and grabbed Kyle's wrist, stopping his fist.

Everyone looked at me in shock and I said, "I said leave it, therefore fucking leave it."

I then dragged him towards the football stadium and away from the fight, with Adam falling behind us reluctantly.

"What the hell dude, let me go back and kick their asses." Kyle said, trying to pull his arm from my grip, but I just ignored him and continued moving.

When we entered the bleachers I saw Jessica rising from her seat, so I continued dragging the struggling Kyle towards her before pushing him back into a seat next to her.

"What the hell happened?" Jessica asked, "I heard you two yelling at someone."

I was about to answer when Kyle blurted out, "It was those assholes who always fuck with us. They wouldn't shut the fuck up, so I was going to kick their asses, until Riku had to step in and stop it."

"Damn it. Really Kyle, your first day back and you're already trying to get into a fight?" Jessica said, sighing, "For fucks sake, you really need to calm the hell down."

"What were those assholes even doing here?" I asked.

"Apparently Andrew and Archer have joined the football team this year," Jessica said, "so they were here for practice."

"Wonderful." Adam said, sighing, "Another reason for me to fucking hate football."

Kyle sighed and got up, saying, "Whatever man, I'm going to go walk around town, You guys wanna come?"

"I'm in." Adam said.

"Alright." Kyle said. Turning to Jessica and I, he said, "What about you guys?"

"I'm good." I said, with Jessica echoing me.

"Alright then, suit yourselves." Kyle said, beginning to walk away, "I'll be back by dinner. C'mon Adam."

As Adam followed him, Jessica yelled after them, "Just please don't get into anymore trouble today, okay?"

Kyle gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder and she sighed.

"He's going to get himself hurt one day." Jessica said. She turned to me and said, "So, you ready to go?" I nodded and she said, "Alright. Levi said he's going out with some if the team, so let's go ahead and head home."

We left the football stadium and I saw Archer, Trinity, and Andrew, standing exactly where I left them, and we walked past them without a glance. As we began walking home, a rather loud clap of thunder sounded out, causing Jessica to jump.

"Damn," She said, looking at the sky, "Looks like the clouds got a fuck ton angrier. Let's hurry home."

Looking up I saw that she was right. The sky had turned form a light gray to almost black while we were out, and I could see blankets of rain pouring down in the distance.

We had been walking for a few more minutes when Jessica said, "Hey, thanks for earlier. Y'know, for keeping Kyle out of trouble." She sighed and said, "I swear, one day that temper of his will get him in the hospital, or worse."

"Yeah," I said, "He should really try to control it."

"He didn't use to have one; it's those assholes that caused him to have it." She said, "He doesn't even give a shit when they insult him or anyone else, except for me."

"Is he really that protective of you?" I asked.

Jessica sighed and said, "Yeah, he has been ever since we were on the street. He doesn't like leaving me alone without him or one of our friends. I mean, hell, it took forever for us to convince him to go on vacation with Jasmine, since every single time it was suggested he shrugged it off."

"So does he just think that he's the only one that can protect you or something?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jessica replied, "He kept coming up with excuses, but I know that he just wanted to stay to keep me safe. Hell, every boyfriend I've ever had he's threatened about what he'll do if they hurt me."

"Damn." I said, before we returned to walking in silence.

After a few more minutes of walking there was an exceptionally loud clap of thunder, followed by rain starting to pour down, pelting us. We continued trudging through the rain, which quickly began dropping in temperature to where it felt like it was damn near freezing, but I threw my hood up over my head, and my jacket kept me dry and warm. Looking over, I saw that Jessica was soaked and shivering, with her arms wrapped around her, which didn't surprise me seeing as she was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans. _And they called me crazy for taking my jacket with me. _I took my head off and slid my jacket off of me, exposing my arms and head to the cold rain, before putting the hood on Jessica's head and draping the jacket itself over her.

She looked at me, an expression of surprise on her face, and said, "Th-thank you."

Jessica put her arms through the sleeves and we continued walking, the only sound being the pounding of the rain on the sidewalk. _Fuck its cold. _I looked over at Jessica and saw that her shivering had now completely stopped and she was no longer getting wet from the rain. _Fuck it, I can deal with it. Better me than her, anyways._

* * *

**So, how did everyone enjoy the chapter and the introduction of Kyle? I know I didn't really put much detail into what he was doing while cooking, but that is just because I really saw no point in it, seeing as this is a fanfic, not a cookbook. Anyway, I hope everyone liked the chapter. Goodbye until next time, which will hopefully be soon.**


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